Piccolo:

"That was really good, Trunks." Kera helped Trunks from the future stand up after he was sent to the ground by Goku.

Piccolo walked over to his mate and offered Trunks a hand, which he gratefully accepted. His face contorted in pain, he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Man, Goku is so fast."

"That's because Son-Goku briefly transformed into a Super Saiyan God," Piccolo enlightened the boy.

Questioningly, Trunks looked up at Piccolo, then his gaze wandered to Kera.

"We've been training a lot and your father, Kakarrot and I have reached a new level."

"Can you train with me?" Trunks' eyes lit up.

Kera gave a short laugh. "Sure."

Piccolo looked at his mate. There was always something charming about her smile to him. Even after all these years, he felt he couldn't get enough of it. But then he stopped. Was she more glowing than usual? It was almost as if she was glowing from within and she hadn't often had that before.

'Kera, did you ...?

She looked up at him as she heard his question in her head, but she didn't let him finish and turned back to Trunks. "Would you like something to eat first?"

Now Trunks laughed. "I'm starving. I have no idea when the last time I ate was. Mai had ..."

He broke off and looked sadly at the ground. His hands tightened.

Gently, Kera stroked her nephew's back. "What happened to her?"

Piccolo's mind rattled. Trunks had mentioned the name once before and since then he had been pondering how he knew it. His gaze wandered across the meadow and lingered on the time capsule Trunks had travelled to them in. The little blue-skinned boy who called himself Pilaw, the fox-faced one called Shu and a black-haired girl who had been living with Bulma for some time were helping her examine the machine. When he looked at the girl, he startled. Her name was Mai. That was why the name was not unfamiliar to him.

"Mai and I wanted to come here with the time capsule. Together. We had finally gathered enough fuel and had set off for the time capsule. But Black ... attacked us. I couldn't protect her."

Tears came to the young man's eyes and his knees began to tremble. Kera pulled him into her arms and Piccolo put a hand on her shoulder. Through their connection, Piccolo felt how sad Kera was, as if she was trying to absorb the boy's grief into herself.

He massaged her neck, trying to reassure her that he was with her. That they hadn't lost anyone. That everyone was okay.

"Trunks, I'm sure you did everything you could. If this Black really is as strong as you've told us, you can't defeat him alone."

Trunks took a deep breath and finally nodded. "I'm going inside for a bit," he muttered and headed towards the house.

Vegeta and Goku, standing a few steps away from them, watched Trunks with worried looks.

Kera wrapped her arms around Piccolo's middle and rested her head on his chest. He pulled her even tighter against him and she followed the movement only too willingly. There was no longer any sign of the happy glow of a few minutes ago. It was as if her emotional world had turned 180 degrees in a matter of seconds. He faltered again. Did that mean ...?

"Mama!" Menka came up to her with Gine holding her hand. "Would you like to stay here for a while? Then I would fly home with Gine. She's tired."

Kera tried to wipe her face as inconspicuously as possible as she turned to the two of them.

"That would be very sweet. We'll join you as soon as we can."

She picked Gine up to press a kiss to her forehead. The little girl gave Kera one firm squeeze and froze. Her head jerked up and she fixed on the sky.

"Someone's coming," she whispered.

Startled, Menka, Kera and Piccolo followed her gaze.

A light veil cloud slid across the otherwise cloudless, bright blue sky. The next moment it looked as if someone was cutting the cloud across, widening the crack from the side facing away from them. Behind it, a black-purple billowing darkness emerged from which the outline of a person slowly peeled away.

As the brightness reached the contours of the being, Piccolo's breath caught. Hovering above them was Son-Goku. No. Piccolo shook his head. That had to be Goku Black, who had attacked Trunks.

A snide grin parted Black's mouth. "So this is where you've been hiding!"

Kera:

She didn't know why, but at the sight of Black, a switch seemed to flip in her head and all she felt was anger. Unbending, all-destroying rage.

Maybe it was because she had just felt Trunks' grief over Mai's and Bulma's loss. Or because there was something else she had wanted to tell Piccolo and she hadn't gotten around to it because of Black again. Either way, she was angry.

A little rougher than intended, she set Gine down on the floor and jumped up.

"First come, first served!" shouted Kakarrot, flying past her.

Kera growled. She didn't need that at all right now. "Get out of here, Kakarrot!"

She lashed out with her fist and hit her half-brother on the upper arm. That threw him slightly off course. But he seemed more horrified that she had hit him than that he was actually hurt. He stayed back, knowing full well that she was not to be trifled with.

Black seemed to be calmly waiting for her attack, as if he was sure that nothing and no one could harm him. He stretched out his right arm and let a column of energy emerge from his palm, forming into a man-sized scythe.

He fights with energy weapons, Kera thought as she ducked down to avoid the scythe strike. Flickering, the weapon whizzed over her. She felt the heat of the energy, so narrowly had she dodged. At the same time, she transformed into a Super Saiyan to add to the momentum and lunged with her right leg for a kick.

Black was fast. Faster than Kera, because she stepped into the void. Instead of slowing down, she turned and lunged with her left leg, but Black was already behind her.

She cursed inwardly and wanted to give this disgusting creature a beating at any cost. She reached for the blue ball inside her. Within the blink of an eye, she had transformed into Super Saiyan Blue and rammed her fist into Black's stomach.

Black staggered back a little, suspended in mid-air, and gasped briefly. Kera had not hurt him significantly, but she had hit him and shown him what she was capable of.

The being from the other timeline quickly regained his composure and looked at Kera with a disparaging look. "What can you do to me, you inferior being? Just because you hit me once, you think you stand a chance?" He laughed mirthlessly. "Ridiculous." He went down on his knees slightly.

Kera braced herself for an attack, but before she saw Black coming at her, she felt his fist in her stomach. He had moved faster than she had been able to perceive.

Her hair went from blue to blonde and back to black as she flew like a projectile towards the earth. Only Piccolo's arms kept her from hitting the earth like a cannonball. She groaned as the pain of the blow spread throughout her body with a time delay.

"Ouch," she muttered and she curled up.

"Me now!" Joyfully, Kakarrot hissed past Kera and Piccolo to take the fight to Black.

Beerus and Whis had come closer and were watching the fight, while Trunks knelt beside Kera.

"Are you alright?" Concerned, Piccolo looked at her. She smiled as the pain subsided and she sat back up.

"Lord Beerus, look at the ring on his right hand." Kera listened up. "It's a time ring." Whis pointed in Black's direction with a barely perceptible movement of his head,

Time ring? That sounded interesting. Kera would have to ask Dende later if he knew more about it. The way Beerus and Whis behaved towards time travel, they certainly wouldn't come clean. But first they had to get rid of this Black. If Kakarrot couldn't deal with him, it would be Vegeta's turn first, before it was her turn again.

Kera looked at Trunks, whose jaw dropped when he saw the speed at which Kakarrot crashed into Black. Then he watched the fight for a while and finally shook his head.

"Why isn't he fighting at full strength?" he asked no one in particular.

"It's a stupid habit of Kakarrot's to never fight at full power in the beginning," Vegeta said. As usual, he watched the fight from the ground with his arms crossed.

Kera cleared his throat. "Well, you don't, after all, because you would never reveal your true power right away. You want to test what your opponent is capable of first." Kera looked up again. "It's kind of weird to see Kakarrot up there twice."

"I'm just waiting until I can beat him up." Vegeta grinned.

Kera sighed. "But that can't be the real Kakarrot, can it? He died of a heart virus in your future, didn't he?"

Trunks nodded. "I have no idea who that is. All I know is that he's very strong."

"You need to train more!"

Betrayed, Trunks lowered his head. "Yes, Father."

"We'll work something out, Trunks," Kera tried to cheer her nephew up, pulling him close for a moment.

A scream made her look up again. Goku Black was pulled back into the time rift at that moment. What had happened? Had the fight been decided that quickly?

"No!" Kakarrot shouted as well, but he looked down instead of at his opponent. A ball of energy hurtled downwards, heading straight for the time machine.

"Shit!"

Kera, Piccolo, Vegeta and Trunks ran, but they were too late. The bullet hit the time machine, which burst into flames. Kera registered Bulma running into the house, no doubt calling the fire department or at least getting a fire extinguisher.

"Gine, watch out!" shouted Kera. Gine had broken free of Menka's hand and was running towards the burning time machine. She had her hands up and was staring doggedly at the machine. The flames grew smaller until they finally died out completely. Gine stopped and then just fell over.

Kera ran towards her and arrived at the little girl at the same time as Menka.

"You saw that too, didn't you?"

Menka nodded. "Gine was using magic. I thought Saiyans couldn't do that."

Kera swallowed. "They can't either. Is she all right?"

Menka stroked her hand across her half-sister's forehead. Her palm glowed. "She's fine. She probably just used up too much energy all at once because she can't use it consciously. Sleep it off and everything will be fine again."

"Can you please take her home?"

"I'll walk with you." Reyak took Gine in his arms and they flew towards the forest.

"Whis, why did this time rift close so suddenly?"

Beerus and Whis had now also stepped closer. "I suspect that supernatural forces have been at work here, repairing time," was Whis' less than insightful reply.

"Can we still use the time machine?"

Trunks called up to Bulma, who had rejoined them and gleefully noted that the flames had already gone out.

"I think so. At least I can't see any major damage now. We'll probably have to clean out the outer shell a bit more."

"I noticed that this Goku Black was wearing a time ring," Whis took the floor again.

Kera was surprised that he mentioned it to the others after all.

"What does that mean?" asked Vegeta.

"Only Supreme Kais are allowed to wear these time rings."

"Do we really have to pull everything out of your noses all the time?" asked Kera, annoyed.

"Well, I can't say much more about that either. Time rings are worn by Supreme Kais. Full stop."

"So Goku is a Supreme Kai in the future?", Piccolo wanted to know.

"I really have no idea, sorry," Whis rebuffed the topic and walked with Beerus to the nearby pavilion to take a seat.

Frustrated, the others stayed behind, wondering what they could do now. Trunks in particular could see the tension.

"We just can't fight Black." He clenched his fists.

"Don't give up, son. We will find a way," Vegeta repeated the words Kera had also said to Trunks earlier. Kera hoped he was right.

"Alright, I need to make some repairs, then you can go," Bulma informed them as she jumped out of the pod.

"Wonderful, then we can train. Whis!" Excitedly, Kakarrot ran to Whis and Beerus, but Whis seemed to decline, as Kakarrot came back to them with his shoulders slumped.

"Then why don't you train with Vegeta," Piccolo suggested.

"No, thank you. Kera, are you coming?"

Without waiting for her reply, Vegeta turned around. Probably to head for the gravity room.

"Do you want to go to the future with them?" Piccolo looked at Kera questioningly.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure. What about our connection?"

"Well, it has withstood another dimension, but whether it can withstand another time ... I really don't know."

"The risk is just too high for me too, honestly," Kera said. "Besides, four of us certainly won't fit in this capsule."

"That's true again."

"I'll still train with Vegeta."

"All right. I'll fly to the kids."

Piccolo pulled her into his arms and leaned down to lock her lips with his.

Kera put her arms around his neck and pulled him even closer. All at once, she was overcome with an irrepressible desire to be closer to him. She placed one hand on his chest and began to massage it in circular motions. Her tongue ran over his lips and opened them. She felt his smile against her lips. His hand moved under her breastplate. It felt electrifying and a low moan escaped her mouth.

"Hey, get a room!" Kakarrot was still standing next to them, apparently not knowing what to do with himself after Whis' rebuff. Kera had completely forgotten about him.

A little out of breath, she broke away from Piccolo and smiled at him.

'We should actually do that again sometime. Get a room.' She winked. He smiled broadly, gave her another kiss and flew off.

"I'm going to Vegeta's now. Are you coming?"

Kakarrot shook his head and clasped his hands in front of his chest in a huff. "No. Vegeta won't, after all. I'll just go to King Kai's then."

"See you later then."

Kera saw another flicker as he disappeared, then ran into the house. As expected, Vegeta hadn't waited long to start training. She knocked on the glass of the door and waited for him to let her in. No sooner had the door closed behind her than he turned up the gravity again and attacked her.

"You're pissed," she stated after the first exchange of blows.

Vegeta stood on the other side of the room and glared angrily at her. "Why would I be?"

"I don't know. Tell me." She shot towards him. He dodged out of the way. She had expected that. She stopped her movement right next to him, dropped, and in the spinning motion, shoved her leg into his stomach. Vegeta gasped.

But he would not be defeated so easily. He fired a ball of energy that she barely dodged.

"Did you hear that my mate was killed in the future? By that Black!"

So that was what was bothering him. "Of course I was aware of that. You don't need to direct your anger at me now." She stood up and looked him firmly in the eye. "This is the art of war, Vegeta. Direct your anger against your enemies. Draw strength from your anger and become stronger than all others."

Slowly Vegeta relaxed a little and then nodded. "I can ... I would ..."

"I know. I couldn't bear to live without Piccolo either," she said quickly. She knew it was too hard for him to say those words openly, but she could imagine exactly how he must feel. She thought back for a moment to the moment when Piccolo had died. When Nappa had killed him. The pain had almost killed her and they hadn't been so close then. Or the moment when Piccolo had turned to stone and she had only survived because the Supreme Kai had shielded their connection for a while.

A shiver ran down her spine and she shook herself briefly. She couldn't let the grief come to the fore too much. Anger was her drive.

"Continue?" Vegeta got himself back into fighting position. "Will you come with me to the future?"

Kera shook her head. "It's too risky for me. I don't know if our connection can take it. I don't think there's room for four in the pod. And ..." She jumped back and paused for a moment. Her hand settled on her stomach.

"I understand. Then I will fight along for you," Vegeta said and attacked again.